Peter A. Klein wrote:
>So all you folks that think 28mm is already a medium telephoto,
>why do you like your super-wides so much?
Alasdair replied:
>Because the field of view of the human eye doesn't necessarily map very
>well onto the field of view of a camera lens.
And Doris Fang wrote (not necessarily replying to Alasdair):
>The 50mm focal length's strongest advantage, in my humble opinion,
>is that it "looks normal", therefore very 'believable' in the sense
>that Walker Evans meant by his use of the word 'documentary'.
Vaughan's contribtion:
I agree with you all. (I'm feeling very conciliatory this morning!)
Firstly I don't believe there is anything sacred about the 50mm lens. It
only has a casual relationshp to the diagonal of the format (the 40mm
lens is more appropriate) and it has been argued that the 28mm lens
better approximates the human eye's field of vision; however the 50mm is
usually the sharpest and fastest lens in a camera system but that is
probably due more to the geometry and mechanical equirements of back
focus distance than anything else.
Secondly I believe the perspective effect of an image has more to do
with camera-subject distance than lens focal length. Super-wides can be
used to give the "wide angle" feel, they can also create images that
play down this effect. The same wide-effect can be wrought from longer
focal length lenses too, but it gets harder as they get longer. I can
make a "wide angle" photo with a 50mm, for instance...
I personally like wides because you are a part of the subject, an active
participant not just a detatched observer. It's like a front-row seat at
the concert. BAD ultra-wide photos are those taken from the second row
and behind -- na, you gotta be in their faces with a 21mm. News media
like wides because if there is room, some @#$% will always squeeze in
front of your camera! (*see note below)
Now some show and tell: OK, tell me which lenses created these images:
at the time I had Zuiko 16mm fisheye, 21mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 135mm and
200mm. Bonus points for those who can pick those done with the OM1n from
the OM2n! ;-)
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~vaughanb/images/syd02-350.jpg
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~vaughanb/i
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